


Birds of a Feather

by kitlaurie



Category: Klaus (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, hopefully funnier and sweeter than the tags make it sound, i don't know how to tag this one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25871542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitlaurie/pseuds/kitlaurie
Summary: (Lydia and Jesper Swap AU)Lydia had given years of her life to the postal service, underappreciated and ignored. She's willing to do a lot to get a little recognition but, for better or for worse, she's in for a lot more than she ever could have expected.Years earlier, a carpenter and a postman meet in a town just starting to go off the rails.
Relationships: Jesper Johanssen/Klaus, Klaus/Lydia (Klaus 2019)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	Birds of a Feather

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about this Swap AU for a while now. Finally got around to writing some of it down.
> 
> The only characters swapped in this story are Jesper and Lydia, everyone else is still in the same roles/times as canon. (i.e.: Mogens and Alva are still in "present day")
> 
> If you read the summary and were worried there won't be much Jesper in here, let me reassure you. He's very much still here. Each chapter is going to be half "present day" with Lydia and her struggles and the second half is all about young Klaus and Jesper and how their relationship develops.
> 
> I've also come up with A LOT of my own assumptions about the history of Smeerensburg here.
> 
> I'm hoping to keep these chapters short (as in, each half is less than 1k words) and I can't guarantee how often I'll feel like working on this fic, but something to work on with shorter chapters sounded nice right now.

Lydia had wanted to be a postal worker ever since she was a little girl. A bit of an odd dream, but she committed to it and she’d made it happen. She’d worked her way through the academy and into a position sorting mail in one of the biggest facilities in the capital.

And stayed there for the better part of a decade.

Which was _fine._ Her life was _fine._ She had a reliable job and her own little apartment.

She’d just never considered how pursuing one dream could hinder another.

Apparently she was too much of a career woman for some people. She found any hopes of romance and starting her own little family crash and burn before they ever really began.

She also hadn’t expected her career to stall out the way that it did.

She’d put her all into the academy and worked diligently for the royal postal service year in and year out.

In the same position, year in and year out.

No recognition, no promotion, not even the chance to do any actual delivery work. Her superiors and coworkers alike all treated her like she was still fresh out of the academy and she had become all too familiar with every type of condescending tone under the sun. More people in her life called her _Little Lady_ than her actual name.

She was busy sorting mail on a day just like any other when she overheard something that would finally give her dead end job somewhere new to go. Two of her coworkers down the line were having a conversation and certain keywords had caught her attention.

Words like “Guaranteed Promotion” and “I Turned It Down”.

“He’s been pushing this position to everyone recently.” She heard one of them say. “I don’t know why he’s even bothering with it. Just shut the place down. It’s not worth it.”

“Well all I know is I’m not going there.” The other man said. “I don’t care what I’m offered.”

“Where did you say this was?” She asked as conversationally as she could.

“Smeerensburg.” He replied. “But that’s a name you should avoid if you know what’s good for you, little lady.”

Lydia felt the vein at her temple throb at being so blatantly talked down to by a man who she knew for a fact was four years her junior. She knew this because, unlike most of her peers, _she_ actually payed attention to other people.

“Thanks.” She said through a forced smile. “I’ll be sure to remember it.”

And she did. She remembered that name all the way up to the Postmaster General’s office. It definitely got her a lot of concerned looks, but it sure was getting those doors open.

Once she found herself standing in the office proper she didn’t hesitate to make her intentions known.

“I’d like to be assigned to the Smeerensburg post office.” She said, clear and confident. “If it’s still available.”

“Are you sure?” The Postmaster asked, giving her a quick uncertain once over. “This posting is a bit of a challenge.”

“Oh, absolutely!” She told him with unwavering enthusiasm. “I love a challenge! Always looking for new ways to challenge myself. What’s the point of life without a good challenge? Honestly, I’m actually hoping there’s _enough_ challenge to this, uh... challenge.”

“If you’re certain.” He said, his own tone still clearly _uncertain_. “There are certain perks being offered to the postal worker who can successfully move 6,000 pieces of mail through the Smeerensburg post office, guaranteed advancement, posting of your choice on your return, but it won’t be an easy job and I can’t guarantee your old position will still be here for you if you fail.”

“Completely certain.” She said firmly, stubborn smile unwavering on her face.

“Well then, you’ve got one year. And if you can manage to get that place up and running I think it’s fair to say you’ve got a bright future ahead of you.” He continued, moving to sit behind his desk. “You’d better take the rest of the day off to get your things packed. We’ll have everything ready for you to leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, sir.” She told him. “You won’t regret this!”

She didn’t let her excitement really show until she was out in the hallway, alone.

“Yes!” She whispered to herself. “That was _so easy!_ You’re finally going somewhere, kid!”

She wanted to scream and yell but instead settled for letting her triumphant feelings out physically. Feet moving in no particular rhythm and fists pumping in the air.

Until she had to pause to catch the vase she’d nearly knocked to the floor.

Maybe now would be a good time to go start packing.

-

Klaus had only spent about three years in Smeerensburg and they were already three of the most eventful years of his life.

Three years of a carpentry apprenticeship trying to help get this old whaling town back into shape for all the hopeful new residents looking to bring it back to life.

Smeerensburg wasn’t such a bad place to work, he was starting to think it might not be a bad place to live either.

Until the Krums and the Ellingboes showed up.

Or, more specifically, until the Ellingboes showed up. The Krums hadn’t been so bad on their own. A little bossy, a little self-important. But nothing like the full on warfare that erupted when the two families realized they were trying to settle in the same town.

He would love to say it started off slowly, but it didn’t. It started with a full on brawl in the street. Seemingly, the very first time the two clans had noticed each other’s presence.

Things spiraled out of control very quickly from there. The Ellingboes, initially outnumbered by the already established Krums, called in more clan members. The Krums responded in kind, pulling in families who had no interest in the town outside of keeping the Ellingboes from taking it over.

It continued on this way until the town was overrun with the two families and nearly everyone else had either taken sides or been pushed out by the ever increasing hostility.

The whole thing had Klaus seriously reconsidering a lot of thoughts he’d had about his own future. But he wasn’t thinking about that now.

Now he was looking at the post office. The post office the royal postal service had paid them to build almost a year ago that had sat empty ever since.

At least, until now. Now there was smoke curling up from the chimney and lights on in the second story window.

Despite being on the outskirts of town the little post office had not escaped the ever increasing casual violence of Smeerensburg and there was currently a good sized hole punched straight through one of the walls, just barely missing the front door.

Which is presumably what his boss was discussing with the very animated man out front.

“How could you let this happen?” The man in blue was asking as he gestured at the damage.

“Well, sir, probably because we were expected to build the thing. Not babysit it for a year.” His boss said plainly, already looking completely exhausted.

“Well I would’ve thought a good craftsman would want to ensure the integrity of his work.” The man continued, either completely unfazed by or completely unaware of how he was clearly on the master carpenter’s last nerve. “Especially before the customer has even seen it. But I guess there’s not much point in showing all that concern if you’re doing shoddy work anyways.”

“Y’know what,” His boss said, giving the man a tight unpleasant smile as he caught sight of Klaus. “Here’s my apprentice. He did a lot of good work on this building. Why don’t you take this up with him?”

“Oh, so this is all _your_ fault.” The man in blue said derisively, but his confidence quickly fizzled as he turned around. His next words dying in his mouth and his eyes growing wide as he looked Klaus up and down. “Uh, well no. I mean, I’m sure you did an excellent job. Who could really expect a wooden building to hold up to much anyways! Not that I don’t think you’re good with wood. I’m sure you can do _great_ things with wood.”

Klaus couldn’t even pretend to be surprised at the way the man was floundering. Ever since he’d left home people around him had developed a habit of using his size to intimidate people. His boss could’ve bothered to look at least a little apologetic about it though.

“Y’know what, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Let me start over. Jesper Johansen,” The man introduced himself with an extended hand. “Postman.”


End file.
